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Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)

Why You Should Take a Screenshot When You Apply for New Cards

February 5, 2017
by
Million Mile Secrets Million Mile Secrets

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Million Mile SecretsMillion Mile Secrets Team

Signing-up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Here’s our full Advertising Policy.

Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.

Jack’s wife’s situation is one of the most frustrating situations readers ask about.

Folks see an offer to earn a terrific sign-up bonus, like 50,000 airline miles or free hotel nights. Then, they apply to find out they used an outdated link. Or the bank can’t find records of the offer.

Everyone makes mistakes, including the banks. That’s why it’s important to keep records and take screenshots of credit card offers during the application process.

A Quick Screenshot Can Be the Difference Between Earning a Sign-Up Bonus or Not!

I’ll show you simple ways you can screenshot an offer page.

Why Take Screenshots of Credit Card Offers

With deals changing so frequently, it’s easy to see how banks might not always have their application records correct 100% of the time. We’re all human! But if you’re approved for an offer, the bank should honor the terms under which you applied.

You Can Easily Take a Screenshot on Your Computer. Then Save It in Your Files!

That’s why it’s important to keep your own records.

My simple suggestion is to take a screenshot of the credit card application landing page. It’s easy to capture the information on your screen. And it only takes a few seconds.

The current card application page shows you can earn 50,000 American Airlines miles after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Take a screenshot of this page the moment you apply.

Take a Screenshot of the Credit Card Application Page With the Sign-Up Bonus Offer

Besides the sign-up bonus, you can also use screenshots to capture other information like:

How to Take a Screenshot

If you’re using a Mac, hit Command + Shift + 3 on your keyboard at the same time. This will automatically save a picture of the current screen to your desktop.

If you have Windows, hit the Print Screen key on your keyboard. This will capture whatever is on your entire screen. But there’s one more step.

Open a program like Paint and paste in the picture. Then, save the image for your records.

Taking a Quick Screenshot of a Credit Card Sign-Up Bonus Offer Page Could Make the Difference in Earning Big Travel Toward Your Next Award Trip

If you’re using a Mac or Windows, you can also use browser add-ins to capture what’s on the screen. For example, there’s a free program called Awesome Screenshot that works with Google Chrome.

Screenshots are the easiest way to record the terms of an offer. But you can also consider printing the offer page. Or even take a photo of the screen with your phone to keep for your records. Anything is better than nothing.

Most of the time, you’ll forget you have screenshot images saved on your computer. That’s fine!

But if and when the time comes for you to produce a copy of an offer to the bank, you’ll be ready!

Bottom Line

As part of the credit card application process, I always recommend taking a screenshot of the application page.

Because you’ll have important information saved for your records, like the sign-up bonus offer, minimum spending requirements, and special terms and conditions.

Although unlikely, it’s possible you might need to send the bank the offer page in the future to make sure you get the rewards you applied for. So it’s worth the few seconds it takes to take a screenshot.

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Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)

6comments

That’s a great suggestion. Especially with a card like the American Airlines Citi Card. There are usually multiple offers going at one time. Each one different. For example, in flight when they were promoting Citi cards, it was almost always for a low sign up bonus miles promo while online they offered the 50k. So this is a very smart practice because you want to be sure you get the points.

This happened to me once with a pre-approved offer that I received in USPS mail! I didn’t receive points, called, and they said there was no record of offer. Thank goodness I saved the mail offer. I sent in to them and then they awarded me my miles!

I am amazed how often when you sign up for the card the ensuing acceptance makes no mention of the offer. Was it 60 days, 90 days to 6 months? Was it $3,000 or $10,000? Anyway, I forget. It’s helpful to save the screen shot just to have something to refer back to.

I’ve always received the bonuses for the offers I’ve signed up. However, when Chase came up with the Sapphire Reserve Offer for 100K points, I remember signing up for it from a link one one of these travel blogs and there was no mention of the 100K offer. Fortunately, I called up Chase shortly after receiving the card to make sure that the offer applied before making that hefty spend. However, for future, I will take screen shots (not that I’m probably gonna be applying for anything for awhile, I have taken advantage of most of the good offers already). But you never know when a new card will materialize.

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)